


Slight Deviations

by Demetria_0620



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Future kids travel back to save their dads' asses, Gen, My First Work in This Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-08 12:33:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11081676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demetria_0620/pseuds/Demetria_0620
Summary: Everything should have went as planned. Pretend to go along with Barry, plant a bomb in STARlabs and wait for the heat and anger of one pissed off Flash to resume the infinite cycle of his ascend. Easy plan.He should have known that Fate hates him enough to send slight deviations to foil his plan.OrThat one fic nobody ask for of which Savitar is stopped before its too late and he eventually joins West-Allen family.(No, he didn't join Team Flash.)





	Slight Deviations

**Author's Note:**

> Soooooo... First fic of the fandom and I'm still mourning over Lenny's death in S1 LOT. Also, I think they wasted the whole season 3 of Flash by channeling it that way.
> 
> Because honestly.
> 
> Season 3 could easily be the prelude of 'A villain's journey' (what a waste of plot twist...). Plus, Savitar is one hell of a good ally if they could get him on their side. He could be the voice of balance for Barry.
> 
> And yes, I'm a fan of Glee. So if you noticed some references, everything are intended.
> 
> This is unbeta-ed. So, please forgive any errors. I tried my best to minimize it.
> 
> Read, enjoy, and please leave a comment to tell me your thoughts!

He was terrified.

His own hands had betrayed him, vibrating violently even after he willed it to remain still. They blurred as he frowned, all of his mental power and high processing speed were channeled to keep himself calm. 

It didn’t work. 

He was shaken. Things didn’t go as planned. He failed to secure his past—

—and failed to be born.

How the hell his past self had managed to outsmart him was still the mystery of the year.

Okay, not really. HR outsmarted him. Barry was still as clueless as ever.

That aside, he needed to launch his back-up plan. He needed to save himself. Eobard and his countless time remnants had lasted and were still kicking around even after Eddie’s death. Once upon a time, he had loathed that fact, but now he saw it as a string of hope. He could still survive. He could still ascend as God. He could still protect himself from the hate and fear he will received from those who had once loved him.

Huh. So much for being a hero.

For a second, he was tempted to run back in time, back to the time when the biggest worry burdening his head was Zoom, crazy old Trickster Sr. and a very pissed Weather Wizard. He wanted to go back there just so he could stop Flash in one of Captain Cold’s heist and let the heist went on without a hitch for once.

Snart was right.

Being a hero…what exactly did _that_ pay?

One wrong step made when he was too deep in grief and rage...

One disastrously lucky streak when he survived Savitar’s massacre…

One moment of vulnerability when he has nowhere else to go but the current timeline’s Barry…

And they all threw him away like trash—a disposable duplicate. 

They knew his future, what he will become and what had driven him to it…

And they did nothing. They willingly obeyed the time and created him…their own worst nightmare. How ironic. Most preys didn’t realize that they created their own predators until it was too late. 

The paradox may catch onto him soon but he would make sure that if he was going down to hell—so will the rest of them.

Team Flash will fall.

_There’s still good in you, Barry._

He snorted at the disembodied voice and growled under his breath. “Shut up, Snart.”

_Why Scarlet, isn’t it fun to taste your own medicine?_

Even within the realm of the dead, Snart was still mocking him with that lazy drawl.

“I’m not Barry. Not anymore. And you’re dead, Snart. Get the fuck out of my head.”

Oh, he was muttering to himself, keeping his voice low enough to not attract his companion’s attention. He could literally feel the atmosphere froze before the disembodied voice snorted, yet another mocking noise that echoed in his head.

_Not in a good mood, Scarlet? Should have done some facials first before going all homicidal on dearest future Mrs. West-Allen, eh? I heard it’d do good on your face—refreshingly cool, they say._

He groaned in annoyance, loud enough that Frost raised her head up from inspecting his suit, an elegant eyebrow arched questioningly at him. He shook his head and looked away, focusing on trying to get rid of the stupid ice puns that mysteriously floated in his mind. 

_Are you giving me the cold shoulder, kid? Damn, that’s not cool._

Darn Snart and his stupid puns.

Frost stopped tinkering with his suit, blue-tinted lips curled for a moment before she dropped the metal, strode across the room towards him and placed a frosty hand over his burned cheek.

“Are you okay?”

Her voice was a comfort to him. As twisted their life was, she was the only one willing to accept him.

He sighed, eyes closed as he nuzzled his nose into her palm, mind numb as flashes of memories breezed through his mind. Frost didn’t say anything. She knew her place in his future—in his time where Caitlin no longer existed and Iris was blissfully dead—she was his as much as he was hers.

She was a bit different in this timeline—softer and not as cold (he cringed at the approving chuckle of imaginary Snart in his brain) as _his_ Killer Frost—but she still loved him the same.

Or whatever this twisted dependence they had on one another was called.

It can’t be love. He has lost the ability to love the moment Iris died and the old kind-hearted Barry Allen stepped into the dark side.

There was a mental snort that was NOT his voice echoing in his mind.

_The standard of the dark side must have gone very low when I’m not around._

“Snart,” he growled through gritted teeth, a warning to whatever entity masquerading as Leonard Snart that had latched itself into his mind.

“Snart?” Frost froze, her hand that was gently stroking the ugly crusted flesh of his cheek stilled as she looked up at him, the hand that was curled round his waist (when had she got that there…) stopped pulling him closer. “Are they seeking Snart’s help again? Do you remember anything new?”

“N-no,” her eyes narrowed as he shook his head. He exhaled deeply and steeled his gaze. “No…nothing new—”

Cue the flashes of detached memories assaulting his brain.

_You should have realized by now that fate loves to antagonize you, kid…_

It’s official. Savitar HATED Snart.

And fate. And destiny. Also time. He hated everything.

Though, he didn’t have time to retort when a sharp pain within his head had his knees buckled and he crumpled helplessly against Frost. Cool hands steadied him as he gasped and lost his footing, waves of nausea rolled in his stomach. His mind was being attacked with the new memories from the new timeline. He clung to Frost as the memories flashed back to him, needing her so much as she was the only thing left unchanged from his timeline.

“Savitar?” She murmured softly. 

The memories were strangely familiar yet detached, flashing through his head like a high-speed movie. It was nauseating—how fast the images and snippets of memories flashed through his mind, filling the figurative empty cavity of his chest with sickeningly warm feelings. It wasn’t his memories but he knew that he had experienced them. It made him sick, weak and emotionally drained. He had to revel on the support of smaller arms curled loosely around his waist as he curled himself against her chest.

He is a God. God feels no pain. God feels no pain. God feels no pain. No pain. No pain. No pain—

_Somebody’s in denial~ Chill out, Scarlet._

Oh, holy hell. Did Snart just sang-song to him?

_There’s still good in you, Savvi…_

Savitar wanted to argue back, not even caring to hide his delusions of Snart from Frost but the memories were strangely strong now; raw and filled with strange emotions he couldn’t name and—

—like vengeance, the memories came with stabs of pain, filling him with the ache and longing for something that he could never get.

Hope. Forgiveness. Love. Happiness.

Future.

He has neither of those.

He blinked when the bizarre memories went away, wondering what the hell his past self had been thinking to even come up with this stupid proposition.

Really? Offering help to save _him_? To save a stray evil time remnant in a race against time and fate?

Geez, Barry Allen was hopelessly optimistic.

 _Annoying isn’t it?_ Snart mocked, and Savitar could almost see the gleeful smirk of the thief. _Welcome to the club, Savvi. Exclusive eternal membership for us who were the targets of Barry Allen’s optimism._

Savitar didn’t know who was more annoying—his past self or this imaginary Snart.

He tried to steady himself again, tried to put on his cruel mask again but the tight grip Frost has on his arms told him that he didn’t put up a convincing mask.

Savitar ran a hand through his hair. Those memories were… _something else._

His past self, standing alone in an abandoned warehouse waiting for him. His past self, offering a sliver of hope and sincere aid. His past self, secretly wishing that they could team up. His past self, remembering a pleasant memory to persuade the good out of him. His past self, trusting and hopeful as he defended Savitar from the hate. His past self, hoping for a clean solution with _him_ , with _Savitar_ in _Barry Allen’s_ future...

His past self, releasing a relieved grateful breath when Iris forgave _Savitar_.

Savitar choked on empty air.

“Savitar?” Frost was on full alert now. “Talk to me, please. What do you remember?”

Savitar didn’t reply. The realization just hit him full force.

Iris. _Forgave_. Savitar.

Bile lurched up his chest, making him to want to hurl.

He was _forgiven_.

No, no, no,no…this was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

He didn’t deserve forgiveness. His past self might have been seeking redemption for his time remnant but Savitar knew better. Savitar knew _better_. The only people they have the interest in saving were Cisco and Caitlin. They have no intention of helping him. They were planning something—and that plan didn’t loop in his past self. That was the only logical answer. They were thinking to stall him, to buy some time until the paradox erased him from the timeline and his younger self _didn’t know_ about the plan at all.

He needed to save himself, _NOW_.

“Savitar.”

Frost sounded chillingly frustrated when she pulled him out of his little moment of panic.

_I’m rubbing off on you. I’m so proud. First you gone rogue, then you fall for the cold and soon you might start making puns._

Savitar mentally swore as Snart mocked a proud sniffle in his mind but the disembodied voice heeded no mind to his obvious discontent.

_I feel like my child had grown too fast and wanted to flash away in his metal suit to continue my legacy of being a supervillian. Daddy Cold is so proud of you, Savvi._

Savitar really, really hated Snart.

“Oh, for the love of—,” the irritated fondness of the soft whisper and the cool touch against his chest was the only warning he had when he felt soft icy lips crashed against his own, equally soft and cool hands slipped down his chest, only to sneak underneath his shirt.

And of course, of course, like any other time in their now erased timeline…Savitar closed his eyes and let her to slow him down, his own hands came up to pull her closer despite the tattle-tale hitched breath that told them Cisco was just a few feet away from them.

The lair wasn’t that big anyway.

 _It doesn’t matter_ , he thought as if he was trying to assure himself, melting thoroughly against Frost’s icy lips. 

Frost was his. His and his alone. Didn’t matter if they had an audience—he craved for the comfort she offered.

Savitar kissed her back, desperate and needy for her to anchor him to reality. Cisco completely forgotten from his mind, he leant closer, tilting his head for a better angle to get even closer to Frost, _his_ Frost. He needed her. Needed her so much. He didn’t want to be alone. No, not alone. _Not alone_.

“Later,” she finally broke off with a gasp, painted nails dug deep into his marred cheek—holding him back but not exactly pushing him away. Her cool palm was pressed against his chest as if she was trying to feel his escalated heartbeats. “Once you’re safe,” she breathed, and there was a quick movement of her eyes in Cisco’s direction.

Savitar tilted his head to the side where Cisco stood a few feet away gaping and looking severely disgusted. He cracked a sardonic grin that earned him a satisfying jump from the shocked scientist. He removed the hand that was curled around her waist, vibrating the hand meaningfully behind Frost.

“Francisco.”

Cisco gulped and visibly paled, dark eyes darted towards Frost in pure worry.

“Get. To. Work.”

Frost rolled her eyes and leant up to nip harshly on his burnt earlobe. “Sadist,” she whispered, having heard the threat he had made towards Cisco earlier. 

“What do you expect?” He hummed back, voice barely above a whisper. 

She was acting as if the threat was an empty threat, but the way her body stiffened against him told him that she wasn’t sure if his threat was a fraud to manipulate Cisco or it was a real threat.

She had doubts of him, he knew that. She was aware of how far he was willing to go to ascend as God and stopped his pain, he knew that. She was a little bit frustrated at how void and hardened his heart was, he knew that. 

To an extent, she feared him.

He knew that too.

But she also willingly looped her arms round his neck, her fierce kiss was oddly soothing and assuring. He vaguely heard Cisco’s awkward steps towards the workbench but Frost was getting enthusiastic—easily, she clung to him, legs wrapped around his waist, the heels of her boots brushed against the back of his legs. She kissed him hotly—as ironic as that sounds—seeming like never wanting to let him go, rooting him to the reality and for a second, he thought that his Frost was there. His cold, cruel and sadistic partner was back into his arms.

But then, she pulled away and peppered his scar with oddly gentle kisses, punctuating each kiss with soft murmur of assurance.

“We’re not going to fail twice.”

He closed his eyes when her lips trailed up to his half-blind eye, the soft pressure was comforting against his skin.

“You’re going to be okay.”

Well, he could try to live with the pieces of Caitlin in his Frost if he survived this.

=================================

Cisco briefly wondered if he should demand an award for the most awkward third-weeling in history as soon as he escaped Savitar’s clutch.

Seriously.

With the way Killer Frost and Evil Barry were rutting and making out against the wall, they might as well fuck each other right there and then. 

Cisco frowned at his project, silently appreciating the delicate work of science Tracy had built and tried so hard to ignore whatever the heck was happening behind him.

Ha.Ha. He should call it the Evil Union. Yep, that sounded right.

Savitar was strangely silent, only letting out small grunts and groans once or twice (he expected Barry to be the vocal type after all) but Frost was having none of it. She was shameless in being vocal (a striking contrast to the Caitlin he knew), her fingers pulled and tugged roughly on Savitar’s hair that every time Cisco dared himself to look behind him, Cisco couldn’t stop the flinch of second-hand pain he got from the scene. 

Savitar would have gotten bald spots easily if he wasn’t a speedster with fast regeneration speed. 

Wait, what the actual hell—

These were the evil versions of both of his best friends and all Cisco could think of was Savitar’s future bald spots?

Cisco almost banged his head to the table.

He needed to get a grip. He needed to discreetly alter the speedforce bazooka (terrible, terrible name…geez) so that it could free Jay from the speedforce prison, without Frost or Savitar noticing—

“Mmm—ah~”

—holy fucking Star Wars; that was a moan. A soft needy moan from the villain of the year, Savitar.

Cisco needed the damned third-wheel award.

“Let go, baby…”

And brain bleach.

There was yet another moan and Cisco risked a quick glance behind him and—oh fucking hell both of them were on the floor against the wall with Frost straddling and rutting down onto Savitar—

Yep, definitely a brain bleach.

“Savitar…hey…”

“N…nn—?”

“Trust me. Let it go, babe.”

Cisco, being a curious little shit as he was, decided to continue staring at the evil pair.

They didn’t even give a single fuck to his obvious voyeurism and Cisco knew he could escape while the Evil Union was occupied but he was rooted in his place, gaping like a fish in need of CPR.

He should have escaped but he didn’t.

It was totally because he knew Savitar could catch him in a flash and Caitlin would be in a real danger. Nothing else, nope nope nope.

He was totally NOT curious of how the evil doubles of his best friends were getting it on in this ominous lair.

“Frost,” Savitar grunted hoarsely.

Cisco blinked once and continued staring

—nope nope nope, Frost was NOT smirking to the dazed-looking Savitar and Frost’s hands were definitely holding onto Savitar’s belt and NOT where Cisco thought they were—oh holy moly—WHAT THE HECK IS SHE DOING TO SAVITAR UNDERNEATH THE COVER OF HER SKIRTS—oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, Savitar was vibrating and groaning restlessly—

That’s it.

Cisco needed a brain bleach.

And maybe a light dosage of death

Brain bleach first preferably. He didn’t want these images following him into afterlife should Savitar decided to kill him too.

Nope, nope, NOPE.

=================================

Barry was in a state of awe, nervous and relieved when the meeting with Savitar had gone well.

Snart said that his goodness was his strength against his evil time remnant, hence, a few hours prior to this, he had opted to hide himself in Gideon’s room (he refused to call it Thawne’s lair), curled up with knees against his chest as he tried to view the world from Savitar’s point of view.

It was a legit question.

What would have happened if he was a time remnant in an alternate timeline?

Having witnessed his other selves being murdered by a cold-blooded speedster would have broken his heart. He knew the feeling when he watched his time remnant burst into flaming dust back when during the last fight against Zoom. It had hurt him, making him to withdraw into the solace of his small bathroom to cry his heart out.

At that time, he thought it was all about his father’s death but the grief also was for his time remnant that have sacrificed himself to save the multiverses from Zoom.

It had broken him.

And if he felt the grief over one single time remnant, who said that Savitar didn’t feel the same back in pre-Savitar days?

And the fact that he was a duplicate of Barry Allen would have affected him too. Barry knew firsthand how much he had been questioning his worth while growing up. It was all too easy for him— _for Savitar_ —to fall into darkness. As much as he tried to deny it, he knew the option of falling to the abyss of darkness was entirely possible.

_“I lived….But a funny thing happened when I did.”_

Barry closed his eyes at the memory and couldn’t help the guilt that clawed in his chest.

_“You. Joe. Wally. Cisco. You all shunned me because I wasn’t the TRUE Barry Allen.”_

He was responsible for this. Time remnants were duplicates of him and have all of his memories and feelings. And despite his survival, Savitar was shunned by the future team Flash. Barry couldn’t imagine how painful it would be if the people he loved shunned him. How painful that would be for Savitar.

_“I was an aberration, a DISPOSABLE hero!”_

His heart twisted within his chest.

Disposable. Meaningless. 

Savitar was truly alone with the thought that he had no purpose in life. Rejected by those who he loved. Shunned by his own self. It was a whole new world of self-loathing. Barry exhaled heavily when the realization dawned onto him.

He broke Savitar first. 

And in an attempt of self-preservation, to stop the pain, Savitar tried to retaliate by creating this endless loop.

_“God feel no pain.”_

Savitar was scared, broken and lonely, Barry was sure of it. Anyone would fall into the darkness if was pushed to such points. Normal people would resort to self-harm or suicide once they crossed this point. But he was not normal. He has powers. He could change the past. It was reasonable. 

Suddenly Savitar’s choice made sense.

Savitar only wished to escape the pain.

He chose wrongly, of course. Killing Iris would inflict pain on him too. 

Just like suicide and self-harm, it was a never-ending cycle of self-destruct.

Savitar shouldn’t receive hates. He should receive compassion, sincerity and help.

And that was what exactly he had chosen to do when he brought Savitar back to STARlabs, said time remnant now trailed silently behind him as they headed to the cortex.  


He decided to offer Savitar genuine helps, no tricks up his sleeves or anything; it was a sincere apology to atone what his future self had done to the surviving time remnant. It was a high-risk choice—Savitar could easily slaughter everyone in STARlabs the moment he walked into the cortex—but Barry had seen the longing and loneliness in the time remnant’s eyes when he pulled that childhood story earlier. It was genuine. 

For a split second, Savitar bared his broken soul to Barry, his defense dropped and all that were there to see were pain and longingness. 

And Barry wasn’t going to shun him again.

He meant it when he asked Savitar to come home.

Barry wanted Savitar to come _home._

=================================

This was a huge mistake.

Savitar hated himself for daring to hope.

He hated himself for allowing himself to go through these pains again. 

Wally’s fearful eyes. Joe’s scared yet defensive threats. Julian’s hateful words. Tracy’s cold wish for his demise.

He appreciated Barry’s useless attempt to shield him from the hate and Iris’s selfless forgiveness but the damage had been done.

It had been so long since Savitar felt pain this raw and fresh. 

It hurt. It hurt. It hurt so much. He needed it to stop. He needed the pain to stop. He didn’t want to go through this pain again. No, no, no, no, no. 

His arms came up to curl around his body, his jaw clenched tightly and his fingers trembled.

_Not this again…_

Savitar fought back the tears that tried to leak out. No, no, no, not again.

Wally used to look up at him in adoration, not fear. Joe’s threat used to protect him from pain, not promising pain. Julian might be an ass but his hate used to be based on annoyance, not anger. And Tracy used to be happy to help him stop his demise, not happy for his upcoming demise.

It hurt so much.

The weight of the bomb in his jacket suddenly felt comforting. 

Why was he so stupid to hope for more? Just because Barry wanted to help him didn’t mean that the rest would. He should have expected this. When was it Barry’s mind ever made sense and everyone just went along with his crazy ideas?

Not everyone has the heart of gold and wear such valuable heart on their sleeves.

And Barry didn’t even have a solid plan.

Even if they managed to save him, how would they explain him to the world? Long lost twin? A relative from Gotham? Would he share beds with Wally? Or take Barry’s old room? Will he even receive a seat in the wedding? Will his blackened heart be able to take it watching the true love of his life being married to his unmarred, perfect doppelganger?

No, he couldn’t.

Savitar was fond of Frost. Barry was in love with Iris.

And now he was more Barry than Savitar.

He couldn’t do this.

Thus, when Iris gave him the meaningless promise to not give up on him, he returned the gesture with equally meaningless words promising Cisco and Caitlin’s safe return.

He was going to kill Cisco as soon as he returned to his lair.

Caitlin was already dead by the way and Frost would stay by his side.

He could still win this.

The weight of the bomb in his jacket gave him enough comfort to allow him to crack a broken smile to Iris. Barry nodded at him, and he zipped away to plant the bomb in the breach room.

It should have gone well for him.

Even if they survived, Barry would be pissed enough to kill him.

And if Barry killed, the cycle will continue and Savitar would win.

It would go as expected.

Though, what he didn’t expect was the crackle of white lightning surrounding him, as he tried to make an escape out of the breach room. The lightning crackled on his skin, halting him for a split second before there was a sudden blast of cold encasing him from the back.

_Cold feet, Scarlet?_

Snart’s disembodied voice mocked him as he fell forward, the cold blast didn’t turn him to ice statue but instead seeped through his skin and spread through his veins.

He felt the speedforce left him to the mercy of the cold.

Huh, even his speed betrayed him in the end.

The cold spread up to his head, turning his mind drowsy and he knew it was his time. He fought to keep his eyes open, to keep running, but to no avail, he was too cold to move. He was going to die because ghost Snart wouldn’t allow him to do something so un-Barry-like.

_Don’t flatter yourself, kid. I have my reasons._

He must have been so out of it when he felt his body fell into a warm gentle embrace instead of cold hard ground. There were voices—strangely unfamiliar voices—and they were annoyingly loud to his exhausted-cold-and-on-the-verge-of-blacking-out mind.

“YOU ICED HIM?!”

“Yep.”

“He is your father!”

“All the more reasons to stop him.”

“HE IS YOUR FATHER!”

“If it makes you feel any better, it wasn’t even as lethal and dangerous like the lightning Eddie threw at his own dad.”

The chest he was leaning against rumbled in laughter before the person that was holding him spoke.

“In my defense, Dad foiled my heist and I reserve the right to throw an angry tantrum over a spoiled gang outing.”

There was a beat of silence. And then…

“I _really_ hate the both of you.”

Savitar felt the last cells in his body froze over and he fell into the darkness.

Hell was a weird place.

=================================

When the alarm of high energy radiation from the breach room blared in the cortex, Barry knew that Savitar had chosen to not hope for a future with him.

He was livid, but his anger was more directed towards himself. He started this. He created this whole darned mess with Flashpoint. Because he couldn’t move on. Because he couldn’t think beyond the written fate and see the silver lining. 

And now with a bomb ready to explode quite literally underneath their feet, he has no one else to blame but himself if anyone died.

Though, to their mutual surprise, the alarm died down as quick as it started and all that was there in the screen to ponder on was the shattered ice of what that was previously a dangerous bomb.

“What the hell is goi—” 

Joe’s words were cut off with a sudden gush of breeze that send papers fluttering everywhere and neatly done hair gone messy.

And stood in front them was yet another doppelganger of Barry cladded in black skin-tight suit. There was no mask or cowl to hide the twinkling amused dark eyes, white teeth flashed openly at them in a smug grin. The doppelganger’s hazelnut hair was windswept, sticking messily in every direction possible. Savitar’s scarred cheek nuzzled against the black and red lightning on the doppelganger’s chest.

Savitar seemed so harmless curled up unconscious and pale in the doppelganger’s arms.

“Who in the bloody hell are—,” Julian stopped dead in his track, eyes widened at the smirking ‘Barry’ before his gaze fell to the unconscious form of Savitar.

Barry, on the other hand, was trying hard to not jump into conclusions.

Was this a new threat? Acquaintances of Savitar? Perhaps another time remnant to aid in Barry’s descend to the dark path? Did he stop the bomb to save them or to try to kill them in a more painful way? Why did he knock Savitar out?

So many questions to be asked and thoughts to be theorized…

But before anyone else could snap out of their shock and open their mouth, a very loud argument from the hallway attracted their attention.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING?!”

“Saving our timeline.”

“NO. You just risk erasing yourself from our timeline. Have you not learnt anything from Barry?”

All eyes fell onto Barry upon hearing that angry hiss.

“Geez, I’m not going to create Flashpoint 2.0, Tommy.”

“You could very well have created it by this point. What if when we got back, I had a brother instead of a sister?”

“Would you believe me if I said that this are supposed to happen?”

Barry understood everything the moment the owner of the voices, two strangely familiar-looking people stepped into the cortex. He couldn’t stop the grin from breaking across his face but this, this strange trio was the hope he needed to go through this dark time. He shoved his hands into his pockets, eyes crinkled with delight as he beamed at the trio. He barely managed to keep a calm tone when he blurted out his conclusion;

“You are from the future.”

=================================

“You are from the future.”

The moment his boy blurted that out in that giddy matter-oh-factly tone, Joe was all too ready to quit his job and his life, move to the peak of Himalaya mountain so that these science mumbo-jumbos couldn’t reach him. Sure, he knew that Barry could time travel and there were another Earths out there but the scene before him right now took the cake.

Barry stood in front of the team, the closest to the strange trio, hands shoved in his pockets but positively beaming with hope. The kid has that focused hopeful look on his face—the kind of face he wore when he had a good lead to solve a devastating case. 

Joe didn’t know what to think of that.

He then shifted his gaze to the most lethal-looking among the trio that barged into their cortex—the black-clad speedster.

Standing smugly with unconscious Savitar nestled like a baby in his arms were yet another doppelganger of Barry. Or perhaps could be another doppelganger if not because of the kid’s smug dark eyes that strangely reminded him of Iris’s whenever she had proven him wrong. Also, the kid was a shade or two darker than Barry. Definitely not a doppelganger since they didn’t look hundred percent alike.

Joe’s brain hurt the moment his gaze landed on the other two kids at the main entrance.

Oliver Queen was standing there, looking awkward and sheepish as hell and so out of character. The stiff wary air around the vigilante had gone, being replaced with the air of adorable nerdy awkwardness that reminded him so much of Barry when he was younger…and good lord please save him—Joe thought that the kid looked adorable.

He just called the Green freaking Arrow ‘cute’.

Joe was ninety-nine point nine percent sure he was dead from the explosion and hell was a weird place.

And let’s not go to the last of the intruder. Yet another doppelganger of Barry (geez, how many of his boy’s remnants and look-alikes were running around?), only this one was cladded in blue parka, dark sweater and tight jeans minus the cold gun—yep, the future consisting of any of Barry’s look-alike idolizing Captain Cold enough to cosplay as the thief was definitely a weird place for him—the same smug smirk was on his face, his platinum blond hair only made his icy blue eyes more piercing than they should.

Joe glanced at Barry, waiting for any sign of distress that indicated the need to get into defense mode.

Though, Barry looked calm and relaxed, his jaw set but his eyes lit up in hope.

Joe trusted his boy enough to relax a bit and resisted the urge to grab his gun.

“Took you long enough, Leo,” the black-clad kid drawled lazily, extending his arms as if he was offering Savitar to his friend. “I almost fell asleep.”

The Captain Cold wannabe—Leo, Leo was his name, Joe reminded himself—reached out to take Savitar into his arms and Joe had to give credit to the boys because they were either had workout a lot or super strength was involved.

Savitar looked like weightless paper in their arms.

Leo rolled his eyes. “Not everyone has reached the speed of light, _Edward_. If Barry couldn’t win a race against you, what chances do we, normal people, have?”

“Slowpoke.”

“Arrogant ass.”

It felt so weird to seem them—the look-alikes of his own boy—bantering like normal brothers with a psychopathic unconscious speedster in their arms.

Barry, thankfully, cleared his throat before this got any weirder.

“So, you know the future me?” His boy was wary, Joe could see that, but there was also a spark of happiness in those hazel curious eyes, something he hasn’t seen in Barry for quite a time.

Both boys froze and shot an eerily similar incredulous look at Barry. Barry shrunk back, shoulders hunched and wary.

“You’re kidding, right?” Leo started.

“Old man, you gotta be joking me,” Edward scowled, looking more betrayed than angry.

“I thought it was obvious enough—”

“Is there really a functional brain in there or—”

“I mean, look at our faces!”

“—is it a pile of mushy sap in your head, old man?”

The jumbled rant of both boys was cut short with a strong smack to the back of their heads.

Joe suddenly adored Oliver Queen.

“OW! WHAT THE FUCK!”

“What was that for, Tommy??”

To his credit, the boy named Tommy stood his ground and gave both of them the glare Joe recognized as Oliver Queen’s trademark glare. 

He jabbed his finger at Edward’s chest, his words came out in a controlled growl. “ _Eddie_ ,”Joe blinked at the familiar names while the rest of the team let out a gasp, “you are going to zip your ass out of here, go to Savitar’s lair and retrieve both Vibe and Frost right here. You are not allowed to hurl lightning to anyone, not even Frost. Tell her that we have Savitar and she is to come here peacefully as we work this out like mature adults. If you try to indulge in your weird fascination to lightnings, I’m gonna make sure that Iris would have your head. She is going to have you and not even Joe, Barry and Wally combined would be able to vouch you out.”

Damn the kid has Queen’s gut. It took balls of steel to have that tone over someone who assumingly was all too happy to throw lightnings to people in daily basis.

Joe watched in awe as Tommy turned on his heels to give THE glare at Leo. “And you…you are going to bring Savitar to the medbay. You’re a doctor yourself, so hook him to IV or anything to ensure that he does not ended up dead,” he shot a quick worried look at Savitar before huffing angrily. “Because as much as you are a pain in the ass ninety percent of the time, I would appreciate it if my partner is NOT erased or altered from the timeline just because he decided to ice his own father before he was born. We have a job to complete and I’m too used working with you to adapt to a new partner.”

Edward blinked at his friend before he cracked that smug smirk again. “Someone is having the Green Arrow brooding syndrome…”

“You kidnapped me in front of my dad’s charity gala guests,” Tommy hissed back. “You, the Silhouette, Central City number one most wanted criminal, leader of the Rogues, successor of Captain Cold’s legacy...,” he exhaled an exasperated breath before resuming, “…just kidnapped Mayor Queen’s only son in front of a whole bunch of superheroes. Considering the amount of hassle the paparazzi are going to give me, I have the right to brood.”

“You make my titles sound so cool.”

“That wasn’t the point, dumbass.”

“I did ask Oliver if I could borrow you for a while. He said okay.”

“The city will panic. You kidnapped me right under the sober noses of local superheroes.”

“Mick was already drunk.”

Tommy groaned.

“Just go get Vibe and Frost here, can you?”

Edward grinned and gave a mock salute before he was gone in a flash.

It went eerily silent after that.

Only Barry was reacting positively to the whole damn thing as he has that giddy hopeful grin on his face.

The rest of the team Flash? To say that their brains broke was a severe understatement.

Joe suddenly felt the urge to seek for the cheapest house on top of Himalaya’s mountain. Because if he was comprehending these well, it would mean that both Eddie and Leo were Savitar’s sons. And this Tommy was the Green Arrow’s kid. And apparently, they have close relationship with his family considering that future him, Iris and Wally are also mentioned. Also, there was also that tidbits saying that Eddie was the most wanted criminal? Not something surprising considering that he was Savitar’s kid, as weird as the idea of Savitar having kids sounded like. Plus, if he was hearing it right, Mick, the freaking _Heatwave_ , was publicly considered as local superhero.

Man….his brain hurt.

Life was so much simpler back when he was younger.

“So, it’s possible? To save him?” Barry was practically bouncing on his feet, eyes gazing hopefully in Savitar’s direction. “Is he happy? Are we in a good term?”

However, before either Leo or Tommy could reply, Julian stepped forward, his eyes were wide as he stared at Leo. “Wait, hold on. You are Savitar’s son?”

Leo blinked adorably, tilting his head slightly to the side and looked like he was confused at the question. “Um, yes?”

“WHO WOULD PROCREATE WITH HIM?!”

Leo’s glare was nothing but icy cold murderous glare and for a moment Joe felt the temperature of the cortex dropped drastically. Leo’s hands were glowing and emitting disturbingly familiar white mist.

Shit, he knew who the mother was based on that alone.

_“Leonce.”_

Thankfully, Tommy was there to save the day.

 _“What_ ,” Leo scowled as he placed Savitar onto the bed, the parka went off and draped gently over Savitar’s unconscious form. When he turned around, Joe literally felt chills running down his spine.

Darn, the kid did have icy glare.

“No icing anyone else,” Tommy said firmly, unfazed by Leo’s glare. He tilted his head to the side, his expression was thoughtful. Squaring his shoulders then, he met his friend’s glare. “Or else, you are going into the pipeline for a week of timeout.”

“He insults my father.”

“And if I recall it right, you have long years of childhood and teenagehood tormenting one Julian Albert.”

Julian visibly paled. 

Leo scowled deeper, arms came up to cross over his chest. When he spoke afterwards, the words came through gritted teeth. “Dude, come on. I love my father. I’m not going to let this slide.”

“You mispronounce ‘annoyingly devoted and attached’. And yes, _dude_ , you are going to let this slide.”

Joe had to pray for a longer life-span to ensure that he was there to witness how the heck Savitar managed to forge such loyalty and devotion into his kid. He could believe it if Barry was the father of the year material but Savitar didn’t even pass as a decent father figure.

Leo’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. “One little blast of ice?”

 _“Leonce,”_ Tommy growled. “Let. It. Go.”

Cue the gust of breeze that left everyone’s cheeks numb as Edward finally made it back to the cortex with Cisco and grumpy Frost in tow. The speedforce bazooka was in Frost’s unforgiving grip.

“Sorry, I’m late,” Edward grinned, dark eyes twinkled cheerfully. “These two refused to cooperate and I’m not good at convincing people to stay at peace because I usually wreak havoc—umm…,” he stopped talking, shivered violently and shot a curious look at Leo. “Dude, what in the hell climbed up your ass and died that you find the need to freeze the cortex? You know that cold is bad for speedsters!”

“It’s not even frozen…. Just chilly,” Leo pouted and crossed his arms sulkily.

Joe would have cooed over the boy’s cuteness if only the situation wasn’t this tensed and Killer Frost didn’t have that murderous look on her face.

“I demand explanation,” Frost spat out, carrying the bazooka with her, clearly not trusting anyone in the room to be near it.

“Yeah, damn right we need explanation,” Cisco agreed, pointing towards Edward and Leo. “From which Earth are you two from?” He hissed, tensed and cautious before his eyes finally landed on Savitar. “And what the heck is Savitar doing here??!”

As if on cue, all eyes fell on Barry.

=================================

Barry hated being the center of attention.

He hated it even more now that all of them were looking at him like he has all the answers of the world.

Look, wasn’t it more logical and appropriate for them to ask for explanation from Leo, Tommy and Edward? They were from the future, they would know better!

“Umm…,” Barry scratched the back of his neck. “I was kinda hoping that we could work this out, help Savitar to escape the paradox and I dunno…if he wants it, he could join team Flash in the future? A brand new hero?” He was hesitant at first, but then the rambling kicked in. “I mean, I was hoping at first but now they are here,” he gestured meekly at Edward, Leo and Tommy, “I’m sure we could make this work.”

“Fat chance that is happening considering that he just tried to explode us all to pieces,” Tracy hissed venomously, but held back the venom the moment Leo’s head snapped up to stare at her, his clear blue eyes froze her next words.

Barry knew it would take a lot more to have Tracy on their side with this.

Provided that they didn’t shatter to pile of ice first because Leo seemed to not have any tolerance to any offense against Savitar.

“Look, Savitar was once me. He was broken. I broke him. The first time he revealed himself he told me how we all shunned him because he wasn’t the real Barry Allen. That had immensely hurt him. He was too deep in pain and made the wrong choice,” Barry inhaled a deep breath and cracked a hesitant smile. “I think there is a future of which all of us could be together in a team. Edward and Leo are Savitar’s sons, so clearly he had a decent future by now and they seemed to know me and Iris, so I guess we’re all one happy big family in the future….?”

Barry visibly cringed at the variety of looks he was receiving.

Iris was beaming proudly at him, forever supporting his back, and her eyes darted briefly towards Savitar and Leo, fondness started to grow in her gaze as she watched Leo held onto Savitar’s hand. Joe on the other hand, seemed so confused but not exactly against the idea. He also seemed to have some sort of awed affectionate gaze towards Tommy—yep, Barry was going to think about that every time he saw Oliver. Huh, he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. 

Harry had the calculative look on his face although his expression was not as suspicious and icy as the look Killer Frost was giving him. Julian and Tracy were obviously livid and betrayed, but there was guilt gnawing underneath their angry faces too. Perhaps they understood his angle—that whatever that had created Savitar, was something of their own doing. Cisco, on the other hand, seemed to be genuinely curious, his eyes darted towards the trio from the future, obviously have connected the dots and assumed that the boys were from some time in the future and not visitors from other universes.

Edward seemed genuinely entertained, the glee and amusement seemed strange on the very familiar face. Tommy, on the other hand, was housing that same stiff smile Oliver usually wore, only his eyes were softened a bit and his posture was more open and friendlier. Wally seemed strangely out of it as he seemed to be not even been listening to Barry’s rambling and only has his eyes on the way Leo sat on the chair beside the bed, the platinum-haired boy’s hand never leaving Savitar’s limp ones.

Barry couldn’t help but quirk a smile at that.

His time remnant had a decent future and would turn out to be a great man, if the kid’s devotion was any indicator.

It warmed Barry’s heart when a soft muffled moan of pain came from the medbay and Leo was on his feet in seconds, placing his palm over the burnt skin of Savitar’s face. The kid was murmuring something—a soft hum—and it took Barry a complete minute to finally notice that the hum was the very same lullaby his mother used to hum to him to ease up his mind whenever he had a high fever or generally needed comfort.

When Savitar’s whimpers of pain calmed down and Leo was back to his seat, Killer Frost finally let go of the speedforce bazooka and strode closer towards Barry.

“And I supposed that you have any idea how to cheat the paradox?” Frost droned slowly, never tearing her wary eyes from the strangers, especially Leo. “Flash…Do you even have a plan?”

“Caitlin—” Barry started, reaching a hand towards her.

“—It’s Killer Frost.” 

To everyone’s surprise, it wasn’t Frost who corrected him. 

“What?” Edward blinked innocently as everyone turned to stare at him. “You hated it when we call you Caitlin every time you have those blue eyes visible,” he blurted out, gesturing at Frost. 

Frost stalked towards him, and to Edward’s credit, he wasn’t even fazed. The kid was still grinning as she neared him, her malicious voice did nothing to affect his amused expression.

“And how would you know that, hmm?” she purred, tracing a finger down his jaw.

“Because we are from the current timeline’s future.”

The inaudible _duh_ sounded so loud to every waking occupant of the cortex.

“Current timeline, huh?” Frost curled her lips, blue eyes darted cautiously around the room.

“So you guys are really from the future…,” Cisco echoed, seemingly more awed now. “A better future, I hope?”

“Considering that the record of the previous timeline indicated the death of Iris West would lead to neither of us being born, my father was killed by Deathstroke Jr. because the Flash didn’t come for backup, Star City was burnt to ashes and Central City was in complete chaos…,” Tommy shuddered violently. “…I would say that our future is much better than the previous one.”

“Wait, Oliver was killed?” Barry blurted out.

“Not anymore,” Leo murmured, his icy gaze successfully halted Barry’s next words. “And we have said too much. No more questions regarding our future.”

“We wish to keep our timeline intact as much as possible, if you could be so kind,” Tommy added, smiling gently at the occupants of the room.

“Okaaaayyy,” Barry mumbled, rubbing small circles on the back of his neck. “No more future-prying, okay. But, can we ask what you are doing here?”

“A mission,” Edward was all too eager to answer, seeming to be buzzing with energy. “We are sent here to secure this particular timeline.”

“And what would happen if you don’t?” Frost drawled maliciously, walking up closer to the bed—if she was surprised that Leo smiled and welcomed her, it didn’t show on her face. “What is the alternative?”

The trio exchanged a quick look amongst themselves before Tommy and Edward steered their gaze onto Leo. 

Leo merely shrugged and moved a bit, allowing Frost more room by the bed. “Nothing good for either sides, and that’s all for you to know.”

“Nothing good, huh?” Frost purred and raised her hands. “That is for us to decide, right?”

Nobody expected the sudden blast of ice.

=================================

Savitar was hundred percent sure he was dead.

But he wasn’t so sure about he ended up in hell, though.

Because a wintry frozenland with strings of diamond-like ice draped over bare leaveless trees and glowing crystal flowers looked like it came out of a discarded Frozen background sketch instead of the classic image of hell. 

But maybe, since he was a speedster, frozenland might be the most appropriate hell for him, what with cold the exact opposite of speed and all.

But this place was a bit too pleasant and serene to be hell.

Hell was a weird place.

He wandered down the snowy path, eyeing the beautiful scenery in complete wariness and waited for things to go wrong and fucked him up. It was a silent endless journey, and Savitar was thinking that this might be his personal version of hell—wandering around in cold forever—when he saw a familiar flash of blue, something akin to pieces of timeline he usually saw when he time-travelled.

He strode closer to the small blue glowing ball, frowning as he saw himself in the ball. 

He was _laughing_ , his scar stretched oddly to accommodate his wide grin and it was an odd image to see because he didn’t—couldn’t—remember the last time he was able to laugh like that. He could see some of the equipment he used to have in CCPD’s forensic lab. But that wasn’t CCPD’s lab. The view and architecture was completely different. He wasn’t alone too in the fragment of time (yep, this was what he was going to call whatever the heck this thing was) as he saw feminine hand reached out to snatch his fries, of which he dutifully protected, only to have another hand snatched the fries from behind him—

—it was Barry Allen who stole his fries.

Savitar backed away from the glowing blue ball, wondering what the heck he just witnessed.

The scene was too domestic, too friendly—it was so _unreal_. He dared to peek at the ball again, only to see Oliver shaking his head in exasperation by the door, and Felicity leant closer to snatch his fries again when he was occupied in berating _Barry_ who was _laughing back at him_. Iris was spinning around in his chair, seemingly enjoying watching his playful interaction with Barry.

What the heck was that?

Another glowing blue ball burst into view, straying away from the snowy path he was on before. Savitar felt the strange urge to go nearer to the second ball, wanting to see what would be shown to him. He treaded carefully towards the ball, and reached out a hand towards it.

He was immediately sucked into the fragment of time—

—and landed in the West’s residence.

It brought back the déjà vu feeling back when he was Barry and was obsessing over Harry Potter and wishing so hard to know how it would felt if he fell into Dumbledore’s pensieve.

It pretty much seemed like the same damn thing.

The house was empty, but not exactly lonely. There was a pine tree in the corner which assumingly is yet to be decorated based on the box of Christmas decorations at the foot of the tree. Savitar treaded towards the fireplace, where a bunch of fluffy stockings were hung.

He frowned at the number of the stockings. 

He remembered the West’s tradition of hiding little gifts or apology notes in the stockings by the fireplace for each member of the family. It was supposedly to appreciate the member of the family (because a Christmas gift was sort of compulsory so it didn’t count) and it was also to ask or give forgiveness in private so that they could start the new year in a fresh page.

Savitar reached out to one of the stockings, feeling his lips betrayed him as he cracked a small smile.

Iris’s was always blue and often in different prints every year, something that she had taken delight of in doing the moment they discovered the little shop that sell different patterned stockings as opposed to the traditional red santa stockings. Joe’s was deep brown and the most worn out, something that he—no, it’s Barry, _Barry_ —and Iris used to joke around considering that Joe was oldest in the family. Barry’s own was always red, almost looking like the traditional stockings only Iris always found a way to make it to have at least a different pattern every year.

When Wally joined the family, they added a yellow stocking to the bunch.

But, the one Savitar was holding wasn’t in any of the familiar colours. Joe’s brown stocking was in the middle like usual, flanked with Iris’ blue stocking—cat paw printed this year—on the right and Barry’s red—with obnoxious Flash symbol sewn onto it—on its left. Wally’s yellow stocking was hung next to Iris’, Kid Flash’s caricature was effortlessly drawn on it with permanent markers.

But the one Savitar was holding was soothing grey with intricate lines of blue that reminded him so much of his own suit. It was hung next to Barry’s, equally massive and beautiful that signified the owner was a part of the family as was Barry.

Savitar frowned.

Though, he didn’t have time to ponder on anything as his surrounding swirled and he found himself standing in the middle of the Arrow Cave.

Felicity was spinning around in her chair, tapping on the high-tech computers as she mumbled to herself, probably berating Oliver again. The mannequins were costumeless—indicating that the Arrow gang was on a mission—although there was another addition to the lines of mannequins. A strangely familiar looming figure was draped with dark cloth, right next to Green Arrow’s costume mannequin.

Savitar tried so hard to not believe his hunch.

But that was the moment Felicity jumped from her seat, before she tapped furiously on her computer, panic and worry streaked on her face. She was speaking to her Bluetooth earpiece, seemingly to be pleading to someone for a good full minute. Savitar couldn't hear her voice but based on the movements of her lips, she didn't use a full stop at all. Felicity stopped speaking for a moment, lips bitten between her teeth before she exhaled a sigh of relief.

Savitar assumed that whoever she was pleading to finally agree to her words.

It was the next second when Felicity hair blew all over her face, the papers on her desk scattered everywhere and relief washed over her face as she stared at someone behind Savitar. 

Savitar was expecting it to be Barry.

He didn’t expect to look at his own face—scar and all—as he turned around to see who Felicity had called over. Felicity ran and hugged his doppelganger, and said doppelganger reached a hand to squeeze Felicity’s shoulder before he zipped across the room and raced out in his metal suit.

The dark cloth fell onto the floor of the costume box.

His doppelganger returned exactly 45 seconds afterwards with a nauseated Diggle and an unconscious injured Oliver in his tow.

Savitar felt his jaw slacked in gaping confusion the exact moment the surrounding swirled again and he was sucked into a different fragment of time.

This time, he landed in the cortex in STARlabs, in the midst of laughter and festivities. 

Barry was the center of the attention, of course, Iris tucked lovingly in his one-arm embrace as he seemed to be giving out some sort of speech. Savitar couldn’t hear the words, only the buzzing of genuine laughter as they raised their glasses for a toast. Casting a quick glance around the room, he was surprised to see Heatwave in the corner, actively engaged in a conversation with Kara and both halves of Firestorm, a little red-haired girl clung in his arm. Cisco was already in a nerdy conversation with Ray, Felicity and Winn (huh, he must had come with Kara) with a very pregnant Lisa Snart draped lovingly over his shoulder, the younger Snart only has her gaze on Cisco.

It was obviously a gathering of superheroes.

The whole team Flash, team Arrow, team Supergirl and team Legends were there, mingling with one another and enjoying the festivities, though most of them were arguing over the games set up across the room. Oliver was popping a figurative vein and glaring angrily at the scoreboard of the dart game he was in while Sara was basking in the glory of thawing the Green Arrow. Joe was chatting with Jay Garrick, and occasionally cast an exasperated glance in Barry’s direction while Jay laughed and patted his shoulder in assuring manner. Harry was nursing a drink, alone in the corner, although there was fondness in his eyes as he watched Wally and Jesse kissing underneath the mistletoe.

Savitar shifted his gaze to the medbay and instantly regretted it as he saw Frost—no, it’s Caitlin, Frost didn’t have red hair, it’s _Caitlin_ —leaning in and kissed Julian.

He ignored the longingness in his chest and turned his attention towards Barry, only to frown upon seeing the nervousness in his other self. Barry was obviously edgy, bouncing nervously on his feet as he casted hopeful look towards the entrance every 2 minutes with Iris gently patting his arm as if she was assuring him. Savitar frowned when Barry’s face suddenly lit up—eyes all crinkled in delight as his lips broke into a too wide grin—and soon Barry was striding across the room in a brisk pace, only to pull someone into a big hug.

Savitar didn’t know how to react when he turned around, only to see that Barry was engulfing him—okay, not him _him_ , but the scar was very recognizable—in a bear hug. It really did feel odd, watching his own half-blind eyes softened as the other _Savitar_ returned the hug and allowed Barry to pull him into the festivities, of which despite the wariness from some of the people, they all seemed to accept him. 

It took Savitar another full minute to notice that his doppelganger—or maybe future or alternate self—wasn’t alone when he entered the room. There was a woman too, clad in blue parka so similar of Captain Cold, although the holsters and the cold gun immediately went to the pile of weapons on a seemingly special table by the entrance. She shrugged the parka off and guided a toddler with platinum hair and icy blue eyes towards his doppelganger.

Savitar blinked in complete horror and confusion when the toddler looked at the other him and promptly ran across the room to hug his doppelganger’s legs, erupting a laugh from everyone in the room.

He only had a second to process the unbelievable scene in front of him before the room swirled again and he ended up back at West residence.

Only this time, the room was fully decorated and there was a bunch whole lot of new pictures on the walls near the stair. Scrutinizing the cluster of family pictures, he found his gaze to be fixed on a picture right next to Barry’s wedding picture with Iris. 

It was a picture of him—yes, him and not Barry, with scar and all—with the woman and toddler from earlier scene and the child that he saw clinging to Heatwave before. He has his eyes closed in the picture, the woman’s hand rested gently over his scarred cheek, gold band wreathed her ring finger. She has her eyes closed too as she leant to brush their lips together. 

The toddler—a bit older now it seemed—was happily snuggling in his hold while the other child, the beautiful red-haired girl was holding to the woman’s other hand, head tilted to snuggle against his side. The young girl gave a toothless smile to the camera while the toddler gave a drooly smile as the small hand gripped tightly on his shirt.

Savitar almost thought he was going to a cardiac arrest—the picture was too unbelievable—when he felt the presence of another being behind him. Getting into defensive mode, he turned around, only to blink in surprise.

“Ho. Ho. Ho.”

=================================

“Ho. Ho. Ho.”

Savitar glared at the infamous thief.

Snart just had to reenact one of their most ridiculous encounter now.

It was the exact same situation as it was back then. Snart was sitting cross-legged on the chair by the fireplace, a steaming reindeer-inspired mug of hot chocolate in his hands, that shit-eating smirk was on his face as he eyed Savitar with amusement written all over his face.

Though, there were differences too.

Snart wasn’t in his Captain Cold’s gear. No cold gun, no oversized fluffy parka and futuristic goggles. It was just Leonard Snart, in ordinary winter turtleneck and casual jeans, Christmas-themed blanket draped over his lap and there were mini marshmallows melting in the hot cocoa.

“Snart,” Savitar hissed in distaste.

“Hello to you too, _Savvi_.”

Savitar visibly cringed at the stupid nickname Snart has conjured for him. Snart jerked his chin to the sofa, right across the flickering fire in the fireplace and warily, Savitar took the seat and was pleasantly surprised to feel the warmth enveloped him like a gentle embrace. A mug of hot cocoa was presented to him out of thin air.

Savitar merely used the mug to keep his hands warm.

There was no way he was going to drink that thing.

Snart took a long sip of his own drink and rolled his eyes upon seeing Savitar’s obvious hesitance to drink. “The drink is not poisoned, Savvi,” he said, frowning a bit.

Savitar just glared at him. Snart sighed miserably. 

“Really, kid?” 

“What is your angle, Snart?” Savitar pointedly chose to ignore Snart’s exasperated face. “What are you doing _here_?”

“Helping you out, _Barry_ ,” Snart shrugged, cracking a gentle smirk when Savitar stiffened and turned rigid.

“I’m not Barry.”

“But you were Barry once.”

Savitar went to a complete silence then.

Snart cracked a smirk and placed his mug away as he rested his cheek against his palm. “What do you think of your journey earlier, Savvi?”

Resisting the urge to hurt the thief, Savitar muttered under his breath. “Confusing.”

Snart merely hummed in response.

It was a sickening silence until Savitar finally managed to swallow his pride to break the ice. “What was that?”

“ _That_ what?”

“The fragments of…,” Savitar curled his fingers tighter around the mug. “…whatever it is that I saw. What was it?”

“Possible future,” Snart grinned when Savitar’s head snapped up to stare incredulously at him. “I believe you’re familiar with cause and effect of time travel and shifts of timeline?”

Savitar snorted in response.

“Right,” Snart shrugged, sipping meticulously slow on his drink. “Cause and effect are really tricky thing when it comes to time travel. A slight deviation in your choices would lead to a completely new and different future path.”

“ _If_ we have a choice.”

Snart tilted his head. “Don’t you?”

That shit-eating smirk was infuriatingly provoking.

“Make your pitch, Cold,” Savitar hissed. “I could see that you’re dying to say it.”

Snart smirked at him.

“There’s good in you, Savitar.”

“Quoting my words back to me. So _original_ , Snart,” Savitar huffed, finally giving up and sipped on his drink. He spent too long in cold and loneliness, hot cocoa should be nothing as a compensation of that.

“What can I say, _Barry_ …,” Snart drawled lazily. “I’m a thief from the start to the end. I steal Mick’s attempt to atone his betrayal—”

“—and died a _hero_ in the process,” Savitar interjected.

“I stole that glory from him too,” Snart easily dismissed Savitar’s words. “Point is, I steal for my benefits. And your words are just one of those things I stole.”

Savitar sighed and placed the mug away. “What do you want, Snart?”

“To be honest, nothing at all,” Snart shrugged.

Savitar narrowed his eyes at that.

Snart smirked back.

“Can’t even lie to you, eh Scarlet?” Snart hummed, casually pouring more hot cocoa in his mug.

“You? Doing charity work? It won’t happen even in this messed up hell,” Savitar huffed.

“You understand me too well, Scarlet.”

Savitar wanted to punch Snart so bad.

Snart put his mug away and rested his back more comfortably in the chair. “Savitar, there is a future for you.”

“I’m in here with you and you’re _dead_ , I think it might be too late for that.”

Savitar hated how he sounded so bitter and weak. He looked away when Snart smiled at him.

“Dead, huh?”

“You sacrificed yourself for your team. You’re a hero, Snart. I’m a heartless monster,” Savitar growled, the words rolled bitterly in his tongue.

“Ironic, isn’t it?” Snart hummed but his smile softened when he gazed at Savitar. “You know, when the Oculus exploded, I was pretty sure that I’m going to die. I’m a normal human being after all, I can’t survive such explosion.”

Savitar’s shoulders turned rigid, but it was obvious that he was listening.

“The explosion tore me apart, cell by cell until there was nothing left. I convinced myself that I did the right thing. Lisa is free now with Lewis dead. She has always been independent. She no longer needed me. My little girl had all grown up and is able to care for herself. I have no strings left that would chain me to this world,” he exhaled deeply, long and drawn out. “Mick still has some strings in his life. He didn’t know it, but I know. And one day, his daughter is going to need him in her life.”

Savitar’s head snapped up upon hearing that.

“Heatwave has a daughter?”

“He will be if she survived the pregnancy,” Snart smiled fondly. “And she will. Little ember is as fiery as her mother and strong as her father.”

“You sound so confident that the kid will be a girl.”

Snart cracked a wistful smile. “I have seen her grown. Happy with her foster father and brother, deeply attached to her new foster stepmother and completely idolizing her biological father who is off to save the world and secure the better future for her.”

Savitar felt that something was off with the way Snart worded his speech.

“You have seen her grown?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And she is not yet to be born?”

“She will be in a couple of months of the current time.”

It took him longer than he should to understand everything but when he did, everything finally made sense.

“You’re not really dead, aren’t you?” Savitar breathed out, his tone almost accusing. 

Snart shrugged. “Yes and no,” he cracked that shit-eating smirk again. “Define dead.”

“Snart.”

“The Oculus is very much similar to speedforce—an entity so powerful over our multiverses. It controls time, and to an extent, speedforce too,” Snart started, leaning forward slightly, elbows rested on his knees. “When we destroyed the Oculus, it loses it containment. As you’re familiar with the speedforce itself, you should be aware that once powers like this has been manipulated by outside force, in Oculus’ case, the Time Masters, or in speedforce case, speedsters like yourself or Thawne…it is no longer stable on its own. It needed to latch itself to something to not go out of control—”

“—like the speedforce prisoner.”

Yeah, Savitar was still annoyed at that.

“Personal experience?” Snart smirked. his eyes twinkled teasingly.

Savitar huffed silently.

“So, you’re saying that I’m in your prison now, Snart?”

“Not exactly a prison,” Snart shrugged, seeming oddly content. “It’s not restricting me at all. I’m even able to venture into speedforce and had a little chat with this guy who looks like late Dr.Allen. He thought that I was the speedforce—“

“Jay Garrick. The Flash on Earth 3,” Savitar supplied.

“Correct,” Snart agreed. “It’s not exactly a prison for me. The Oculus needed my consciousness to stabilize itself and I’m free to venture to different timelines in the multiverses,” he smiled. “Good trade, if I may say so. It was fascinating to see how different my alternative life would be in the multiverses.”

Savitar vaguely remembered his adventure on Earth 2. “You’re a mayor in Earth 2.”

“And a detective in another Earth. Leonard Allen in another. Mr.Lance in another universe. A mere fictional character in weekly TV shows in yet another universe,” Snart smirked when he saw Savitar blanched at his words. “I’m never going to get bored in here, so if you ever retrieve your humanity back, bear in mind that there is absolutely no need to rescue me.”

Savitar snorted. “Rescuing people is Barry’s job and I’m not Barry.”

“No, you’re not.”

Savitar could see that Snart was dying to say something.

“Make your point, Snart,” Savitar growled through gritted teeth. 

“There is a future for you, Savitar. Not as a duplicate of Barry, but as yourself,” Snart’s voice was oddly soothing and placating.

“Future filled with pain, you mean?” He spat back, words bitter and venomous.

“I’m not gonna lie, Scarlet…,” Snart drawled, smirking deviously. “You have a rough time trying to fit in, even with Barry’s support. But, it turned out well,” his smirk softened to a gentle smile.

“There’s no future for me. The paradox would erase me in a few hours,” Savitar grunted, fixing his eyes on his knees and refused to meet Snart’s piercing blue eyes.

“Would it?” 

_That_ had grasped Savitar’s attention.

Snart smirked.

“Cause and effect, Savitar,” he drawled as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Barry messed up more than his friend’s life when he created Flashpoint,” Snart tilted his head, piercing eyes scrutinized Savitar with controlled amusement. “It doesn’t matter which future you’re in, the damage of Flashpoint has been done. And one of the variables that could ensure the best future with minimal destruction is your unborn child.”

Snart sipped on his hot cocoa as Savitar gaped in shock.

“My child?”

“Leonce Ronald Allen,” Snart hummed, placing back his mug onto the table. “Should be born a few months after Mick’s kid,” he added thoughtfully. 

“You’re saying that I fathered a child. Snart, what the hell—”

He was silenced with Snart’s smug smirk.

“Supervillain’s life doesn’t exactly make you very careful, isn’t it, Savitar? Considering that you planned to get rid of your partner since the beginning, you didn’t even bother to _plan_ …”

Savitar was no longer listening. Snart was implying that Killer Frost was currently pregnant.

With _his_ child.

This was not in the plan.

The soft chuckle snapped his attention back to Snart.

“Don’t sweat it, kid,” Snart chuckled, leaning back onto his chair. “This wasn’t your fault. The moment Barry created Flashpoint, so many things had changed and been set in motion. Your existence—as ironic as this would sound like—is actually the hope the multiverses needed to avoid destruction.”

In a flash, Snart found himself being pinned to the wall by a very angry Savitar.

“What kind of drugs have you been smoking on in this place, Snart?” Savitar snapped, the words came out as angry growls that tore through his throat. “This isn’t funny. I’m a _disposable_ time remnant. I’m destined to be erased and now you’re saying that I play a big role in saving the multiverses?”

“I’m only stating what I had witnessed,” Snart grinned, not even fazed with the anger in Savitar’s eyes. “I’m a part of time and Oculus now. I’ve witnessed multiple versions of future that Barry had created from Flashpoint. The paradox can’t erase you from existence, Savitar. Not now. Time is too selfish to do that.”

“You’re insane!”

“Future is fickle in nature, but some things are meant to happen once the timeline is set,” Snart clicked his tongue thoughtfully before adding, “take Nora Allen’s death as example. Her death set your—or should I say, Barry’s—path to become the Flash. It is meant to happen, to ensure some bigger things could be saved.”

“In another word, she is the little sacrifice for a better future,” Savitar hissed, tightening his grip on Snart’s collar. “Time is a cruel mistress.”

“Cruel indeed,” Snart agreed. “But someone have to make the tough call. Without her death, Barry Allen wouldn’t be snooping around in Star City to save the Green Arrow from the brink of death. Oliver Queen’s early death will create a chain of unfortunate events that would lead to catastrophic disaster that would eventually destroyed the multiverse.”

“You make it sound like my death would set another chain of unfortunate events…”

“More like catastrophic, but who cares about semantics? Plus, erasing you would mean to create a whole bunch of other paradoxes.”

Savitar blinked in bafflement.

“What?”

“You did cause a prominent impact to the current time and the future, whether you’re alive in it or not. In another version of the future, should I did not interfere with your attempts to blow Team Flash to pieces, Iris would end up killing you—”

“Hardly a hard choice for her to make. I tried to kill her first. It wouldn’t change anything—”

“I beg to differ,” Snart rolled his eyes, the smirk was back on his face. “With you dead and Jay Garrick out of the speedforce prison, the speedforce demanded a new host to keep itself stable. Barry sacrificed himself to be the prisoner. You know how bad that would impact the city.”

“They have Kid Flash. Even without Barry, the city would still have a hero.”

Snart smirked knowingly.

“But Miss West would be severely affected. It wasn’t long in that timeline when she would descend to the very same path you yourself had taken in the previous timeline. She went rogue because the grief of losing Barry and the guilt of killing you, who essentially the duplicate of the love of her life had driven her to the point of madness,” he hummed, seeming like he was talking about a very intriguing TV show instead of people’s life “She would be the catalyst to the eventual destruction of the multiverse. The cycle of destruction you started would spiraled to a much bigger scale thanks to her.”

“Iris?” Savitar breathed out, finally releasing Snart. “But she is a mere human.”

Snart chuckled. “You underestimate the power of grief and love, Savitar. Plus, she is not alone.”

Savitar’s confused frown prompted an amused laugh from the thief.

“Killer Frost loved you, Savitar. She had changed near your demise in that timeline, stuck between Caitlin and Killer Frost but the grief soon caught up on her. The birth of your son triggered Killer Frost to dominate again. She joined rogue Iris, alongside the grieving widow of the Green Arrow to destroy the world that had taken their beloved from them. And although Edward Allen does not exist in that timeline because Barry is not there to father him, but, your son, Leonce Allen along with the young and powerful Thomas Queen did a massive collateral damage on the multiverse to sooth the pain of their mothers. Not to mention their unhealthy obsession to take a dip in the Fountain of Youth and the continuous collaboration with Vandal Savage,” Snart drawled, amused and entertained as he let out a sharp bark of laughter. “And the destruction of the multiverses is equal to the end of time. Time is not suicidal like that, Savvi. It would do its best to ensure its existence.”

Savitar gaped, his hands fell to his side as he stared at Snart in disbelief. 

“I won’t be erased?”

“No, you won’t. Not in this timeline, at least. Some paradoxes are meant to exist.”

He stared at Snart in disbelief. Snart cracked a smirk.

“Your welcome.”

Savitar deflated, swaying in a mix of relief and confusion. He soon found himself been seated back on the chair, Snart’s hands gently patting his shoulder. Torn and confused, he looked up, catching the piercing blue eyes of the older man.

“Why are you telling me this?” He breathed weakly. “I’m evil and dangerous. What makes you think I won’t use this knowledge to my benefit?”

Snart smiled wistfully. “Because I know you won’t.”

“How flattering. You have so much faith in me.”

“Hardly ever. I’m a man of hard facts and logic, Savitar,” Snart smoothed his rumpled shirt, seemingly nonchalant enough. “It is not faith but more like empathy.”

“Empathy, huh?” Savitar cocked an eyebrow skeptically.

Snart chuckled breathlessly. “We are more alike than I would like it to be, Savvi. Both of us are hardened and tainted by pain and hatred. We would do anything to survive. And I know you wouldn’t risk your life for yet another attempt of being a god—”

“Don’t be so confident, Snart. Watch me.”

“Oh, really?” Snart drawled. “Isn’t your primary purpose to become god is to avoid the pain?”

That successfully silenced Savitar.

Snart smirked at him. “You will have a glowing life if you make the right choices, Savvi.”

“Yeah, as if. You know that Barry and I failed spectacularly in making the right choice.”

Snart chuckled under his breath. “You will be okay,” he assured, returning to his seat. “And oh, just a fun fact; Caitlin is a better mother than Frost,” the thief said, a frown suddenly creased over his forehead.“Frost is already considering to kill little Leo before he was born.”

“Caitlin wouldn’t want me,” Savitar muttered, his voice dejected.

“Yes, she wouldn’t. But she won’t put the child’s life in danger.,” Snart agreed, eyes staring blankly at the wall. “But it doesn’t matter. You will find love soon enough.”

Savitar found himself automatically turning his head to cast a quick glance at the cluster of pictures on the wall. “The woman in the picture…,” he breathed, remembering the beautiful face and the oddly familiar piercing blue eyes. “Who is she?”

To his surprise, Snart let out a genuine peal of laughter.

“I rather keep that as a surprise for you,” the thief hummed, winking at him. “Now, Savitar. It’s time to wake up.”

And the next thing Savitar knew, he was falling into the abyss of swirling blue.

=================================

Killer Frost didn’t know what Team Flash was planning, but she knew she needed to get Savitar back to safety ASAP.

She didn’t trust anyone here. It was a trap. It was a trap. They wanted Caitlin, not Killer Frost.

Savitar was the only one whom she trusted. Savitar was the only one who would accept her the way she was.

They used to say that they loved her. But, they didn’t. They loved Caitlin. And even that, they didn’t love Caitlin unconditionally. When Caitlin changed, when she turned to something that didn’t agree with their definition of normal, they wanted to stop her. They wanted to _change_ her.

Cisco said that Savitar would betray her.

She knew that. He had made it clear since the first day of their partnership. Savitar didn’t make sweet promises of eternal happily ever after. He didn’t pretend that he would be a good lover. He explicitly stated that he was evil, that he would choose his personal interest over her.

But that what was made Savitar trustworthy.

She didn’t have to worry that he will unknowingly stabbed her in the back.

Because he made it clear that he would stab her while looking straight into her eyes. 

She couldn’t say the same thing with Team Flash. They would pretend to be her friend and the next thing she knew, they will lock her up in the pipeline, or worst, bring Caitlin back.

Hence, Frost has no hesitance when she blasted the cortex with ice, not even caring if anyone died.

She was all too ready to bolt with Savitar to safety when her power was being cancelled, her ice was encased in a much stronger mist of ice before it turned to nothing but dust. She shrieked in anger, staging another assault but was suddenly stopped, strong arms pulled her into a familiar embrace. 

“Don’t,” he whispered and there was a gentle pressure against her temple.

Frost immediately lowered her hands.

This was the first time Savitar initiated an embrace after all.

He felt strong, there was no sniffles of tears or controlled breathing that usually betrayed his heartless front. He buried his face into her hair, his arms curled around her body gently, without the usual desperation to be grounded—he almost seemed content—and there was a strange noise resembling a hum that rumbled from his throat.  


It was weird and strange but Frost liked it.

For once, it really felt that all of his attention was on her and her alone.

“Get your hand off her, you monster!”

She heard Julian yelled and she would’ve iced that man if only Savitar didn’t held her back, his hands had slid down to intertwine their fingers. He stepped back but brought their hands up and then Frost finally saw his face. The despair and hatred had gone from his smile, pain were no longer dancing in his haunted eyes but instead he seemed contented. He planted small kisses on her knuckles and she almost cracked a smile and felt blush crept up her cheeks.

For once, she didn’t mind that feeling of being Caitlin again.

He gazed into her eyes and it almost caused her panic when she saw recognition in his eyes and the little betrayed and sad lines of his brows. However, his face fell back to the contented smile again the next instance, he almost looked resigned when he leant close to plant a kiss on her forehead.

“Savitar?”

He hummed, trailing gentle kiss down her nose to plant a soft peck on her lips.

It was very weird to see Savitar so innocent and gentle in his movements. Frost started to worry that Team Flash had done something bad to change her man.

“Are you okay?” She whispered, hands grasping his tighter. “What had they done to you?”

“Better than ever,” he responded, lips brushing intimately over hers. “A little birdie chirped that you’re in love with me?”

Frost’s eyes widened.

Crap. This was not gentleness. It was silent fury. Savitar hated the idea of love and family. That was the reason she kept it silent when she started to feel the changes. She wasn’t entirely sure but the signs showed that she might be carrying his heir. Such thing would be a hindrance in his plan.

He would be pissed at the idea of her being possibly pregnant.

Not that it would be any more of a problem anyway. Frost was going to kill the kid once she has confirmed it. 

She has Savitar. She didn’t need a child into the equation.

But she guessed that it was too late.

Because this, _this_ was the prelude to his anger. He wanted to punish her for daring to fall in love with him.

Frost closed her eyes, embracing her fate. “I do.”

She waited for his hand to pierce through her chest.

It never came.

But instead, she found his hands gently cupping her cheeks and he leant in to kiss her, so much gentler and dared she hoped for it, _loving_. His lips were warmer, his hands were so much gentler and he took it slow as if he wanted to ingrain the moment into his mind. It melted her. Savitar was never slow. He did everything fast and cold, but, never slow and passionate. It was like he was opening his shell for her, returning her feelings as an equal.

It was comforting and intoxicating.

Frost barely heard his words when the pain came.

“Forgive me.”

He looked her in the eyes as her visions went black.

=================================

Barry quite literally could feel his jaw went slack when Killer Frost went limp in Savitar’s arms.

Though, the whole cortex was in complete chaos by then. Julian was screeching in rage and sorrow, Cisco’s lips curled in pure anger, Iris and Tracy gaped in horror while both Harry and Joe had taken out their guns and pointed them at Savitar.

Tommy, Edward and Leo, on the other hand, simply watched with a similar controlled calm face.

Considering that they were from the future, Barry knew that they were aware of what had really happened.

The rest of them couldn’t see it because their attention was diverted towards Frost’s attack but for Barry and Wally (if the confused frown of Wally’s face is any indicator), they saw everything in slow motion. Barry saw Savitar opened his eyes the moment Frost attacked. Barry saw Savitar raced towards Julian and took out the cure from Julian’s pocket as Leo raised his hands to neutralized Frost’s attack. 

And Barry definitely didn’t miss the moment when Savitar injected the cure into Killer Frost as they kissed.

He saw the single tear but decided to not mention anything.

Savitar looked up from Frost’s limp form, tormented and vulnerable eyes caught his own and Barry gave a gentle nod, arms crossed over his chest, indicating that he knew Savitar didn’t mean any harm this time.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang.

Julian had wrestled the gun from Joe’s grip and pulled the trigger aiming for Savitar’s head the moment Frost’s hair started to turn red again. Barry raced to catch the bullet while Wally put himself in front of Savitar, clearly following Barry’s lead. Savitar took the chance to place Caitlin back onto the bed and zipped away.  


Barry didn’t miss the way his time remnant’s face contorted in painful grief.

“WALLY,” he yelled as Julian screeched;

“YOU ARE PROTECTING HIM??!”

Barry heeded no attention to his angry friends. He gave a nod to Wally, already tapping into the speedforce as Wally nodded back with a hint of smile and with that, he ran after Savitar.

He wasn’t going to repeat what his future self in that other timeline had done.

He would stay true to his words. 

He would not abandon Savitar this time around.

==============================================

Barry zipped across the city a few rounds, searched every nook and crannies for his time remnant but to no avail, he couldn’t find Savitar anywhere. He made a quick stop to the graveyard, only to saw single little flower on both of his parents’ graves. 

He immediately knew where to search next. 

Barry promptly ran across the town towards his old home.

True enough, he found Savitar there.

The time remnant stood in the very same spot he stood when he witnessed his parents’ deaths. Savitar’s face were void of any emotions but his eyes told the misery and pain he was going through. The time remnant’s shoulders slumped down when he closed their distance.

“Hey, Barry.”

Barry didn’t like how soft and vulnerable the voice sounded like.

It was never a pleasing thing to witness your own pain.

“Hey,” he greeted back, snuffing out a random burst of flame on his sweater as he treaded carefully to stand behind Savitar.

The fact that Savitar didn’t even bother to watch his own back from Barry should be worrying enough.

Barry carefully reached out, one arm curled around Savitar’s shoulder and when there was no resistance, he pulled his time remnant closer, bringing up his other arm for a proper hug. Savitar didn’t resisted nor retaliated, but instead he slumped into the embrace, eyes fluttered close in resignation. Barry led the time remnant down until he was slouched against the wall with Savitar’s head cradled against his chest.

For once, he found himself to be extremely grateful that he had decided to use a part of Well’s inheritance to buy this house back.

He didn’t want to be disturbed now.

There was a faint sniffle, followed by tension in Savitar’s shoulder but Barry didn’t say anything to comment, only opting to rub his hand up and down Savitar’s arms. It felt like eternity of silence when he felt shaky hands sought his own, the movement was hesitant and tentative.

Barry grasped the hands and squeezed back.

Savitar choked a broken laugh.

“You really are too kind for your own good, Barry.”

Barry cracked a smile. “A weird entity with fondness of musical and disturbingly familiar face once told me to let myself being saved too. What kind of hero would I be if I wasn’t there for myself?”

“You know that I’m too broken to be you, Barry.”

“And you should know that I’m too hopeless to give up on you.”

Savitar exhaled a deep breath at that, slumping heavily against Barry’s chest. Barry shifted a bit, allowing Savitar to nestle more comfortably in his embrace. It felt odd yet strangely pleasant, holding his broken time remnant like this. For a moment, Barry wondered if this was what it would felt to have a real brother.

It was very different as compared to Wally.

“What now, Barry?” Savitar muttered, his voice weak and exhausted. “I escaped the paradox when my plan to explode you to pieces is foiled. I’m safe now. What happen next?”

Barry blinked. “Wait, what?”

“I escaped the paradox,” Savitar repeated. “I could no longer feel the threat of being erased.”

“And how did that happen?”

Savitar snorted. “Will you believe me if I told you that Snart saved our collective asses?”

That had Barry gaping.

“S-Snart? Captain Cold?”

“The very same cocky bastard.”

Barry pondered for a moment before pulling Savitar closer. “Once this whole thing is settled, I want the whole story.”

“This whole thing?”

Barry chuckled nervously and gestured towards the whole length of Savitar’s body. “You asked me how this would work. So…I think we need to create a new identity for you. Felicity would be happy to help but it would be tedious to fill in all the necessary details and figuring out the kind of background we should give to your new identity. I would happily give you my name if you want it—but that would be confusing and stupid as fuck because face it, we had an ugly name—anywayy, I was thinking that you could pass as my long lost big brother? Biologically speaking, you are a couple years older than me anyway and Mom and Dad were from Ohio before they moved here. You could be born there and then, due to mysterious chain of events, you went missing, or maybe lived with a relative—we need to figure out those details too—and in grief, Mom and Dad moved here and never speak of you even after I was born. I never knew I had a big brother until now?” Barry knew that he was rambling by now but he tightened his grip on Savitar’s shoulder, wanting Savitar to listen to everything and knew that Barry wanted him in his life. “And I knew that it would be painful for you to witness my wedding but if you want to attend it, you could sit at Dad’s place. If we get all the legal stuffs done by the wedding, you’re technically my last blood relative and I dunno…if you want to be my best man, I think Cisco would understand—”

“Barry.”

“—Look, Savitar, I know I hurt you in the past—well, future…or deleted future..uh—but I need you to know that I’m really sorry. I know that you’re deeply hurt, so please, please, please—”

“Barry.”

“—I want you to give me a chance. To give _us_ a chance to be a family. Leonce and Edward gave me hope for us to be one big family. They are your kids—”

“Actually, Edward is yours.”

“—so that’d mean—wait what?”

Savitar shifted so that he could gaze into Barry’s eyes. “Edward is your son. With Iris.”

Barry gaped. 

Savitar sighed and returned to his slumped position against Barry’s chest.

“Seriously?” Barry breathed, his hands were shaking on Savitar’s arms.

“If Snart wasn’t lying…yeah, he is yours. Leonce is mine, apparently.”

“And you have been an immensely good father to him.”

Savitar snorted. “Your blind optimism would bite you right in the ass one day, Barry.”

“No, no, no…You don’t understand. You should see how he cared for you. That kid is totally devoted to you, Savitar,” Barry mumbled before a frown graced his brows. “I can’t say the same to Edward, though. Tommy said something along the lines that he is the most wanted criminal of Central City and enjoyed wreaking havoc.”

Savitar broke to an amused worn out chuckle. “Huh, didn’t think that you had it in your gene…”

“Hey, we’re basically the same person, okay?” Barry pouted but he too had relaxed, slumping more freely now as he had his chin rested on Savitar’s shoulder.  
Savitar let him and they remained in silence for a few moments.

It was a comforting silence after all.

“So…any ideas of what name you wanted to use?” Barry broke the silence when Savitar was at the verge of dozing off to sleep. “Could be Bartholomew if you want? And we can say that Mom and Dad renamed me after you because they thought you were dead. You need to go with other nicknames though. I’m not giving up on the name Barry.”

Savitar snorted. “You can keep that ugly name, thank you very much.”

“But you’re gonna need new name...,” Barry was almost whining. “Savitar would looks so weird on your driving license.”

“For someone who was my supposed eternal enemy, you’re really adamant on having me in your life.”

“For the supposed God of Speed, you’re infuriatingly slow. I thought we had established hours ago that I want us to go through this _together_?”

“You mean just before I try to explode your team to pieces?”

“Yep. I still want you in my life, though.”

Barry grinned cheekily while Savitar groaned and buried his face to Barry’s chest, refusing eye contact.

“Sooooo….?”

Savitar wondered if his past self has always been this annoying. He pondered about the idea for a moment before mumbling; “Sebastian.”

“What?” Barry’s heart skipped a beat. He choked on the air for a moment before letting out a soft whine. “Why?”

“Do you remember our rebellious high school phase?” Savitar mumbled sleepily, a smirk lazed its way on his face. “Back at Dalton?”

Barry promptly groaned and buried his face on Savitar’s shoulder.

“Why do you need to remind me?” He whimpered softly.

“You enjoyed our years there,” Savitar countered back. “Barry Allen, the big bad bully who freely throw slushies to weaker kids and hang around in dingy gay bar every weekend. Snart would have a field day if he knows.”

“That was for our social image!” Barry retorted defensively, before his shoulders went slump and he mumbled to Savitar’s shoulder. “I still feel bad for Blaine, though. And Karofsky.”

“I don’t.”

Barry narrowed his eyes at Savitar.

“Of course you don’t,” he huffed sulkily. “Huh, do you think people would buy it if I say that you are my other personality and when I was struck by lightning that night, you gain your own body?”

Savitar shifted to give Barry a blank stare.

“What? It’s a perfectly legit story!” Barry pouted and returned the stare with a defensive glare.

Savitar continued to stare blankly at him.

“It’s logic!”

Rolling his eyes, Savitar buried his face into the fabric of Barry’s shirt. “You watched too many sci-fi stories, Barry.”

“Really? You want to berate me for that?”

“For the record, I spent lifetimes in the speedforce plotting your demise so, I’m not _that_ kind of geek anymore.”

“Just you wait till I rope you back on Star Wars marathon, Savitar.”

Savitar huffed.

“Let’s just stick to the long-lost brother story.”

“Awwww…come on! It would be so cool!”

Savitar rolled his eyes, getting real comfortable in Barry’s warmth now. He was exhausted, having no sleep and rest for days by now, and the mental trip to whatever realm Snart had dragged him into had rendered him very tired and worn out. Slumping deeper into Barry’s warmth, he let himself to hope, and for once, felt safe enough to fall into a deep sleep.

He totally didn’t mind the way Barry’s arms tightened around him.

_There’s still hope for us._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So....I guess this is the end? I know that there are lots of loose strings in this one. Maybe I'll cover those in another story, put it into a series whenever I had time? I just like how this chapter end and promptly decide that this is gonna be the last chap.
> 
> I'm so intrigued at the idea of Savitar embracing his new identity and all the shenanigan he goes through with Barry and while raising his Leo. I think it would be fun to imagine him embracing the new name, moved out to Starling and take a job as forensic scientist at SCPD.
> 
> Joining Team Arrow is a past-time hobby.
> 
> Idk. But for now, consider that this one is completed.


End file.
